Breaking the Curse
by readingisthelife
Summary: Emma's heart is black. Her darkness wants Rumplestiltskin dead, but sometimes she finds herself fighting the desire. When an equally vengeful pirate out for the very same blood appears at her 28th birthday ball, magic begins to grow inside her-causing her darkness to falter. No matter how someone tries to stop it, a person's destiny cannot be changed. AU Final Battle/No Storybrooke
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This is really just supposed to set up the story. The good stuff starts with the next chapter! This is very AU, although aspects of it will be kept cannon. Some of this will probably seem particularly confusing at first, but I promise it will all begin to make sense soon. I will try to update this as often as I can. Please follow & review!**

* * *

The darkness consumed every part of Emma. It had done so for the past 10 years but no one noticed it. Emma was too good at lying to let anyone notice it.

It was ironic, really. She demanded truthfulness from everyone around her but she refused to offer it herself.

Pinocchio, Alexandra and Regina understood there was more to the story than just a simple death…but even so. No one really knew. No one would ever know.

And Emma's birthday brought up that sentiment more than ever. It's easier to play normal during the parts of the year where there were no reminders.

Unfortunately, Emma's birthday was a constant reminder of it all. Of that moment that changed everything.

Emma's 28th birthday would be no different from the rest. The joy and the interest would all be a façade.

"You really ought to come and greet the guests now," Pinocchio's words erased the miserable thoughts traveling around Emma's head.

He didn't wait for her to respond. He walked off; she followed.

* * *

Emma really did love her friends. An eternal depression does seem to get in the way of certain interactions, but love was still present in her heart. She constantly wondered if everyone would be so loving if they knew how black her heart was. If they really knew why she was so dedicated to her studies-the archery, the sword fighting, and the hand to hand combat-would they continue to love her so much?

Emma curtsied to the Kings and Queens around her. They bowed and curtsied back. Phillip and Aurora were absolutely shining, probably because of the new little one along the way. Their other daughter, Briar Rose, stood in the corner, twirling her hair around her finger whilst talking to Tobias, the son of Frederick and Abigail. He also had a sister named Katherine, who Emma was fond of but was never particularly close to.

Thomas and Ella were the one's Emma truly loved to see. Their daughter, Alexandra, was Emma's closest friend. Thomas and Ella were also close to Emma—even if her parents were in fact better friends with Frederick and Abigail. They had a rather special relationship, one Emma never truly understood. There was something about a golden statue in all of it, but Emma could never convince her parents to share the story. They never shared that story, nor did they share the story of their courtship.

Emma assumed that even the great Snow White and Charming could have their little secrets; after all, she had some of her own. At the very least she knew about the true loves kiss, the one that brought Snow White back to life and the entire warring kingdom to their knees in admiration.

Sickly sweet stories like that tended to bother her.

Her own experience told her that love could never be as simple as a kiss.

Never.

Alexandra and Emma embraced, and Emma shared one of the few genuine smiles actually tucked away in her bleeding dark heart.

The look on Alexandra's face startled Emma. It startled her even more when she rather loudly exclaimed, "It has been far too long since we last talked! Perhaps we should walk in the garden for a spell?"

They walked away without waiting for a response. Emma's brow stitched up in worry.

They only ever walked in the gardens when they wanted absolute privacy.

When there was something desperate to share.

* * *

Alexandra grasped Emma's hands as they sat down.

"I don't really know how to tell you this."

"The more you prolong this, the more I worry."

"Rumplestiltskin has returned from exile."

The darkness that had momentarily retreated made its way back, consuming Emma's heart once more. Air suddenly found difficult making its way to her lungs. Or, rather, her lungs had difficulty taking in the air. "Alexandra, are you sure about this?"

"Innocent villagers are found left and right with holes in their chests and the ashes of their hearts sprinkled nearby. We haven't seen a massacre this bad since we took down Cora. I wasn't supposed to tell you any of this-you must not tell anyone I mentioned this-but I had to because…well, I thought you needed to know," Alexandra's voice softened. "I am so sorry, Emma."

Emma no longer knew what to feel. She knew Rumplestiltskin would eventually come back, but she still wasn't ready to know it was finally happening. She wanted nothing more than to kill the bastard, but her heart still tried to fight against the horrid darkness. Did she really want to kill someone, all in the sake of revenge?

Her persuasive, all-consuming black heart said yes. Everything else said no.

Emma felt no need to say anything, so she left Alexandra without a word. She retired to her room until later that evening.

* * *

Emma walked into the parlor with a fake sleepiness in her eyes. If anyone asked, she would say that exhaustion had overcome her. She was pleased to see her friends' playing card games. Darkness had no qualms with games. In fact, it helped in keeping her mind off worrisome matters.

"It's really some small wonder that you can gamble, Pinocchio. After all, aren't you supposed to be selfless, brave and _true_?" Emma laughingly teased him whilst jabbing him in the side. She then proceeded to shove him off his chair and take his place. Pinocchio was like a brother to Emma; they always teased and poked fun at each other. Emma wouldn't want it any other way.

Alexandra pouted her face in Pinocchio's direction and scooted over, patting half of her chair. "Need a seat, Woody?"

"You all are just jealous because I usually win!" He shooed away Alexandra's request and pulled up another chair.

"I wish I would win for once," Tobias's face scrunched up.

Briar Rose patted his arm and snuggled up against his side. "I am sure you will, sweetheart!"

Emma grimaced at the budding romance. Didn't anyone know that PDA made victims out of the viewers?

Emma shook the thoughts out of her head as the group set up another round of the game. She played happily enough, and wonderful, teasing, snarky comments were flung from everyone in all directions for the entire evening. She enjoyed the time with her friends until the clock struck midnight.

Today was the day of yet another birthday ball.

Nobody said anything when Emma left without a word.

* * *

Emma and Regina stood near the frame of the entrance, grasping hands. 10 years later, and Regina was the only one who still mourned with Emma on her birthday.

The purple satin dress swallowed Emma up. She couldn't wait for the ball to be over, for her to be able to go back and hide her darkness without needing so much effort.

"Chin up, head high. Don't forget to smile. The day is almost over. You can do this. You've done it all the years before, you can do it now." Regina squeezed Emma's hands.

Emma smiled at the woman with her graying hair, at the woman who had been a second mom to her all these years. Her released her grip and sadly turned away as her parents called her out in to the ballroom.

She walked in, a smile on her face. No matter how hard it would be, Emma would-and could-hide the darkness for the sake of a pretend happy birthday.

The guests applauded and cheered her entrance. She waved to people around her and gave word for the party to start. Bright dresses began to swirl around her.

After many endless conversations, Alexandra finally joined Emma's side…by poking her. Emma squealed and gave her a killer dirty look.

"Oh, dear. Where are my manners?" Alexandra spoke her words whilst trying to suppress her laughter. "I am such a pompous jackass for poking your Highness. Would you like to dance and receive more poking and obnoxious treatment, milady?" She gave into the laughter and held out her hand.

Emma grinned, for real this time. She hid her laughter behind her hand. The two girls guffawed for a few minutes. Alexandra always knew how to lighten the mood. She grabbed hands and they obnoxiously swung around the ballroom, annoying an endless number of guests.

Gasps suddenly swept the crowd. Emma saw her father draw her sword.

She ran through the crowd as the darkness began to slip away, replacing its existence with curiosity. Her father pointed his weapon at someone who was yet to be identified.

"Who are you?" her father bellowed unnecessarily loud.

"A pirate," Emma breathed. The darkness, the blackness completely slipped away in that moment. She'd never seen a pirate before, but she knew he must be one. He had a hook for a hand, messy hair, and really tight leather clothes.

She waved her father's sword away and stared down the pirate. He tilted his head and raised his eyebrows. "Be a princess and help a gentleman up." He stuck out his only hand and gave her a smirk. A lot of sarcasm and emphasis was thrown into the word _princess_.

Emma raised her eyebrows and gave a disapproving look. Cocky. That would be really annoying. He was also probably too attractive for his own good. Emma hated that type of guy. Regardless, she offered her hand to the uninvited guest.

Big mistake.

A spark sputtered inside of Emma, sending a blast coursing through her body. The pirate was completely knocked to the ground, and Emma barreled backwards into the crowd.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: OMIGOSH. 20 followers already? I am so ecstatic to know some people out there actually want to read my story! Squee! I want to mention the timeline of this story a bit. The AU begins with Regina. Snow never told Cora about Daniel, so (in short) Regina got her happily ever after. My story for Cora's downfall may get revealed in this story, I am not sure yet. Red is the typical "aunt" figure in OUAT fanfiction. Snow was never exiled in this AU, so she never met Red. True love always finds true love, however, so she still met Charming. That back story will definitely be revealed later. Also, just because Red never met Snow, that doesn't mean she can't be in this story. *hint hint***

**By the way: This is rated T for language and innuendos. And maybe violence.**

**Disclaimer (because everyone else has one): I am actually Adam Horowitz. This AU will be the plotline of Season 17. *Major Spoiler Alert***

* * *

One might think that such a big blast would be paralyzing. Or at the very least stunning. For Emma, it was neither. Instead, when she pulled herself off the ground, she felt better than she had for a few years. She had no idea why she felt this way, but the answer to her relief could only be attributed to one thing. During the rush of magic that coursed through Emma, her darkness had silently and temporarily slipped away. Emma was simply too filled with adrenaline to notice the difference.

She walked over the pirate, who was putting on quite the melodramatic act. His body was, quite unnecessarily, sprawled out and stretched out completely on the ground. He was muttering something about the unfairness that had befallen his lot in life. The "woe is me" act was entertaining enough, and Emma could feel the faintest of smiles befall her lips. Then she remembered. The pirate had simply _touched_ her, and she was sputtering with magic. This had to be his fault. He did that to her. She held a lot of resentment for magic; it only seemed to foster evil. Even the Blue Fairy didn't seem trustworthy to her because she used _magic_. Emma suddenly wanted to beat the shit out of the pirate for doing whatever it is he had done to her. It was his fault. The magic had to be his doing. It. Was. His. Fault. She took a step towards him, but stopped. A cold, harsh chill ran down her spine. An equally cold voice whispered in her ear.

"I haven't seen magic quite like that in a while, dearie."

The darkness had already started retaking its hold on Emma's heart, and in that moment it finished wrapping itself around her. It squeezed her; it insisted that she finally fulfill her duty. The darkness inside of Emma's heart only wanted one thing: revenge. Revenge against the person who had completely and utterly shattered her life: Rumplestiltskin.

Emma did not like the idea of being responsible for someone's death—it felt hypocritical—but she was completely at the darkness' mercy. It seized her, took her captive, and urged her to act. Emma, at the command of the darkness' desires, lifted up her dress to unstrap the dagger she had wrapped around her thigh.

"Oh my," an elderly woman squealed. "The disgrace!" Emma heard a gasp as someone fell to the floor. She turned for the briefest of seconds. Yep. The "ashamed" elderly woman had collapsed to the ground in her shock over Emma's "shameful" antics. If Emma weren't so preoccupied, she might have found a little joy in the woman's misery. Her dramatics were amusing, but completely irrelevant to the task Emma needed to complete.

Rumplestiltskin was across the room, with his arms crossed and an amused smile on his face. Emma had never hated anybody more in her entire life.

Unfortunately, as she careless and stupidly charged the magician, the pirate finally noticed what was going on. Emma heard screaming from the pirate behind her—something to do with a crocodile. Suddenly he was running towards Rumplestiltskin as well. _Did the pirate want to kill him as well?_ If that were the truth, then Emma needed to get rid of him. She spun around to face the charging pirate, ready to finally beat the shit out of him. She never got the chance. The second her fingers touched him, magic coursed through her body again. The pirate flew back against a pillar, cracking it because he landed so roughly. Emma flew back in the other direction, straight through a magical cloud that must have been Rumplestiltskin a few seconds earlier. Screams sputtered through the crowd in the ballroom. Some people even started running out the room. Just like before, the magic only seemed to make Emma feel stronger. The darkness, however, didn't recede this time. And now it had a new target.

She was across the ballroom and slamming the pirate against the pillar in seconds. Her left arm pinned his neck to the pillar, while her right arm held the dagger to his stomach. He was completely at her mercy, no way to escape.

The pirate then said a few words that she never would have expected to come out of his mouth in such a moment. "Couldn't resist me, love?" A smile spread across his face and a sparkle lit his eyes as he raised his right eyebrow.

Emma was completely taken aback by his response to her aggression. She had met plenty of cocky, flirts in her lifetime, but none of them would have been so stupid as to assume attraction was the source of this kind of aggression. He started leaning into her, and her hold on him slipped as she stared, much too deeply, into his blue eyes. His eyes were absolutely gorgeous, and the way he lifted his eyebrows was adorable, and…

Her darkness gripped a hold on heart once again. She pinned him up against the pillar again. The smile on his face slipped. Emma assumed the authoritative royal voice she used so rarely. "Listen to me, and listen to me close. I am going to ask a few questions. You are going to answer those questions. If you think for even a second that you can get away with lying to me, know this: I can always tell when people are lying to me. And if you do lie to me, I will beat the living shit out of you."

The light completely took over the pirate's face again. "For such a fair princess, you really use foul language."

Emma mirrored the smirk he was giving her. "It gets the point across, doesn't it?"

The pirate grinned. "That, it does."

She twisted her dagger the slightest bit into the leather vest the pirate was wearing. "Who are you?"

He began tapping his hook against the pillar. "Honestly, love? You can't figure that one out?"

"Captain Hook is a centuries old legend, so excuse me if I don't believe that is your real identity," Emma gave him a disbelieving look.

"So you have heard of me," the pirate smiled again. "If you know of me, than you know of Neverland. It is quite possible that I could have lived there for a few centuries without aging."

Emma continued giving him a look of distrust.

"Look at me, princess. Am I lying to you?"

He wasn't. "Don't call me princess, _Hook_."

"_Captain_ Hook. Besides, isn't that what you are? And you haven't told me your name, so it is not like I can call you anything else, _princess_."

"My name is Emma."

"Okay, Emma," her name came out of his mouth quite easily. Shivers ran through Emma. He leaned towards her ear and whispered her name into her ear with his hot, wet breathing.

Emma's guard started to slip. She whispered, quite softly, "What did you do to me earlier, with the magic?"

He was still whispering in her ear, and his voice was very, very low. "I can honestly say I have no clue. I am actually kind of disappointed that magic isn't flowing through you now. Although…you could say a _different_ kind of magic is flowing between us now."

With those words, Emma's guard snapped back into place. He wasn't taking her seriously and she didn't really feel like dealing with that. She snapped his head against the pillar and released him to crumple to the ground. She spun around and was once again reminded of where she was.

Oh, crap.

The crowd was rather aghast. This situation was going to need quite the clean up. She suddenly felt very, very nervous.

Something else was different. The darkness still had a strong grip on Emma's heart, but for whatever reason it was slightly weaker.

* * *

"I can't believe they sent me to my room like I am some sort of child!" Emma was absolutely furious.

"You can't seriously be surprised at that decision," Alexandra spoke.

Emma gave her a seething look. "Are they going to come back and check on me this evening?"

"No. Alexandra and I are supposed to make sure you don't leave."

"Pinocchio! We weren't supposed to say anything!" she turned on him.

"We both know perfectly well she would have figured out our task eventually," Pinocchio said calmly.

"Still…"

"I need to see him again," Emma demanded.

"We were told specifically not to let you see him," Alexandra shook her head.

"Figures," Emma crossed her arms and sat angrily on her bed.

"We will take you to him."

"Pinocchio!" Alexandra was getting very frustrated. "You know we can't do that!"

"Honestly, Alexandra? Has Emma ever acted like this in the past 10 years? Yeah. Exactly. She hasn't."

"Acted like what, Pinocchio?" Alexandra asked.

"Passionate? Interested? Sexually frustrated?" Pinocchio turned towards Emma, waiting for the blow.

"WHAT? I am not sexually frustrated!"

"Really, Emma, really? You are like my little sister. I think I would notice when a guy interests you that way. I have to, if I am going to be a proper brother and beat the lights out of him for you."

"I. AM. NOT. FRUSTRATED."

"But you admit you are interested?" Alexandra smiled.

"NO. He simply has information I need!"

"Like what, exactly?" Pinocchio was grinning widely.

"He has business with Rumplestiltskin. I need to know what it is," Emma's voice grew dark.

Pinocchio and Alexandra exchanged a troubled look.

"That's all you can think about now?" Alexandra's face grew sad. "You meet someone who literally makes you spark, something no one has done to you in years, and all you can think about is what Rumplestiltskin did to…"

Emma cut her off. "Don't say his name."

"It has been 10 years! Can't you at least get over it a bit?" Alexandra was screaming.

"Regina still mourns, it's not like I am the only one who is!"

"HE WAS HER SON. HER ONLY SON. OF COURSE SHE STILL MOURNS. BUT AT LEAST SHE ISN'T SET ON KILLING THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE. Seriously, Emma. I know you think about Rumplestiltskin more than you let on. You want to kill him. I get that. But isn't it time to move on?" Alexandra started off screaming, but her voice grew quieter.

Emma's lip trembled. "You don't really understand. I am not in control of what I want."

"Everybody is in control of their own wants and actions. You can't tell me any differently," Alexandra shook her head.

"I've seen people do things they weren't in control of…"

"No, Emma. You always have a choice."

"Then choose to take me to see Hook."

Alexandra looked at Pinocchio, who had stood silently in the corner while they screamed.

"She isn't going to let this go. We might as well take her," Pinocchio said.

Emma smiled, the suffocating darkness surrounding her heart momentarily satisfied.

* * *

Several hours later, Emma was standing in front of Hook's cell. No one else was around, except for Alexandra and Pinocchio. They stood off to the side and gave Emma her privacy with the pirate.

Hook wasn't really that happy to see Emma. "No thanks for the bump on the head, _princess_."

Emma decided not to give him the angered response he was looking for. Instead, she asked, "How did you get here in the first place?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Yes."

"A bean took me here."

"Portal beans still exist?"

Hook gave her a look. "Yes, your _Highness_. And for whatever reason it brought me into your castle."

"Do you want Rumplestiltskin dead?"

"Yes." His face became serious."

"Why?" Emma kept poking at him for answers.

"It's quite the tragic story. No need to elaborate," he raised an eyebrow. "Why do you want him dead?"

"It's quite the tragic story," Emma gave him a smirk to match his own. "Do you know how to kill him?"

A brief look of surprise crossed over his face. Then he suddenly smiled. "No. But I know someone who does."

Emma returned the smile. "Just who might that be?"

"The Wizard of Oz."

"Oz? Do you have another bean?" Emma looked very surprised.

"No. There is no need to worry about that, however. I have a portal-jumping friend. There is a catch, however. The wizard will only speak to someone who kills his archenemy."

"The Wicked Witch of the West?" Hook looked surprised at her answer. She waved off the expression. "I do a lot of reading...I thought Dorothy killed her?"

"Melting is not the same as killing. Dorothy only stunned the witch momentarily. She didn't have magic. Only someone with magic can actually kill the witch."

"I was wondering why you were telling me all of this," Emma sighed. "You can't trust my magic. I guess I have it, I felt it going through me, but I have never felt it before today. Except…nevermind," she shook her head. Hook raised an eyebrow, but Emma didn't answer his silent question. "Besides. Why can't the Wizard kill her himself? Certainly he has magic."

"Nothing says you need to be in control of your magic to kill her, you just need to have it. I can't say anything for the Wizard, though. I have searched for a way to kill the crocodile for many years. I've found myself reaching many dead ends. I don't mind looking for another one."

"Are you offering me an alliance?"

Hook smiled. "Maybe."

"You know how to get to Oz and back?"

"Yes."

"Do you know how to find this witch?"

"Well, love, I figured we would find out when we get there."

This was ridiculous. Emma was making a deal with a pirate, just for a shot at killing someone she didn't really want to kill. Her darkness was the one that wanted to kill Rumplestiltskin. Sadly, no matter what Alexandra said about choices, Emma knew she didn't have one. She had stood a safe distance away from the bars, but she stepped forward and held out her hand. Hook grasped it.

"So we have a deal, love?"

"Yes." The darkness inside her relaxed just the slightest bit as she shook Hook's hand.

Her hand felt like it was on fire.

She let go of his hand and leaned forward whispering, "I will need a few days to make arrangements," she waved towards Alexandra and Pinocchio. "Some people will know of our plans, but not many. You better know where to find this portal jumper because we probably won't have a lot of time to get there before someone notices I am missing. My parents can only be distracted from the truth for so long."

Hook spoke very softly. "Okay, Emma."

With those words, she turned away from him. She walked back towards Pinocchio and Alexandra, her eyes wide.

She had a lot of work to do.

* * *

**Author's Note: Why Oz? The truth is, I know nothing about Neverland and a lot about Oz. And Oz is the only OUAT realm we know of that hasn't been explored. That means I can explore it without feeling bound to some aspects of the show's storyline. **

**Coming up next: Emma prepares for her trip to Oz. Emma and Hook set off to meet a portal jumper (who do we know in this show that is a portal jumper?). Red makes an appearance…**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: As a heads up, I can't guarantee much updating in the next few weeks. My exams start the first week in May, and that means all of my teachers are piling on work now so they can get in a sufficient number of grades before we all leave for exams—once exams are over, we don't do anything in class for the rest of the year. The next two weeks are going to suck. Once exams start, however, I will have some time. I will have two weeks without school in which only half of the days actually have an exam. And I don't want to study the entire two weeks I am home…I need to do something fun to maintain my sanity. If I don't update in the next two weeks, don't worry. I am still writing this story! It will just take a little while before I have time to actually sit down and do it. Anyways, enjoy this next chapter! Review and follow!**

_**Disclaimer**_**: I lied. I am not Adam Horowitz. I am a fraud. Forgive me. If I were actually Adam Horowitz, then Captain Swan would have become canon months ago.**

* * *

Making deals with unsavory characters was something Emma simply would not do without somehow gaining an upper hand. It didn't matter how _charming—_Emma groined at the word choice her head came up with—the pirate was, she was not going to let that lure her into a false sense of security. Since her earlier interest in the realm of Oz suddenly became relevant, Emma figured she only needed to figure out how Hook was getting to Oz to make sure they were on equal footing. Her mother or father would be the best people to ask about nearby portal jumpers, but Emma couldn't risk them figuring out her plan. They would never let her out of their sight. That meant that Regina was Emma's only possible source in retrieving information. There was a slight chance she might keep the secret if she discovered the ulterior motives behind the questioning.

Emma slipped into Regina's room and was relieved to see Daniel was nowhere in sight. It would be hard enough asking Regina these questions without raising suspicion; Emma didn't need Daniel there questioning her motives as well.

Regina was writing a letter at her desk, but she stopped as soon as she noticed Emma standing behind her. "Yes, Emma?"

"Umm, well, you see…Tobias and Briar Rose were whispering the other night, and I was listening, and, well, I heard Tobias mention something about portal jumpers? Are there any portal jumpers in service anymore? I thought it was odd that they would discuss an out of date profession."

"It would be odd—if I believed you were giving me the real reason for your curiosity," Regina caught Emma's lie almost immediately.

Emma could easily hide truth, but when she had to openly lie with her words, she wasn't very good at it. Emma was a worse liar than freaking Jiminy Cricket, the flying, talking conscious of anyone who cared to listen.

She gulped in some air and decided to tell Regina the truth. "Hook knows someone in Oz who knows how to kill Rumplestiltskin."

"Does he really?" Regina looked doubtful.

"Well…okay, no. He knows of a way to gain an audience with someone who might know how to kill him," Emma was suddenly beginning to realize how stupid her plan was sounding. "I know it sounds ridiculous; that's why I need to figure out which portal jumper he might know…"

"…so you can stay one step ahead of him," Regina nodded. "I know of several living portal jumpers, but there is one in particular I think Captain Hook may have a connection to."

"Who is that?"

"A man named Jefferson. He retired years ago, but every once in a while he can be persuaded to do business."

"Why are you so certain Hook knows him?"

"In his younger portal jumping days, Jefferson had business transactions with Rumplestiltskin."

Emma raised her eyebrows. "That can't be a coincidence."

"Probably not," Regina's voice grew very serious. "I can't pretend that I agree with your intentions here, although it is a relief to finally hear you admit you are out for vengeance against Rumplestiltskin. I know you don't think anyone notices the inner turmoil you face, but I have. So have Pinocchio and Alexandra. I think you need to go away to face the destiny you assume you have," she sighed. "That is why I will give you time to get away. You have 48 hours to get to Oz before I tell Snow and Charming where you are going."

Emma released the breath she was holding in. "Only 48 hours?"

"Don't press your luck. Be sure to tell Pinocchio and Alexandra that I am going to handle your cover story."

Emma smiled and turned to leave the room. "Thank you, Regina."

"You do realize only one person can kill Rumplestiltskin, right?"

The thought had crossed her mind before, but Emma didn't want to think about it. The time would come when she had to deal with that. The darkness gripped her heart. Yes, she knew exactly how she would deal with it. Regina's question was not met with an answer.

* * *

Emma thought that getting Hook out of the castle would be the hard part.

Nope. She was wrong.

The hard part was enduring the endless chatter Hook gave out as they walked through the forest.

"So then he asked 'Who's afraid of Lavinia Gulf?' and she said 'I am; I am!'" Hook was practically falling over with laughter at the end of the story he just shared. Emma had not been listening to his chatter—she was too busy trying to tune him out—so she didn't notice when he asked her a question.

"Wait…did you just say something?"

Hook frowned. "I've been saying something for the past hour."

"I meant did you ask a question."

"Yes, but you have no sense of humor so it doesn't matter," he shook his head and pretended to be sad towards Emma's lack of humor.

It took Emma a few seconds before she realized he was making fun of her.

"Shut up."

"What, love?"

"Stop calling me _love_."

"Why not? It suits you," a mischievous grin came across his face. He stepped a little closer to her. "Do the implications of the name make you…_uncomfortable_?"

Emma rolled her eyes and stormed away. "Not in the slightest."

Hook shouted after her. "You don't know where you are going!"

"Sure I do!" If only Hook knew. After talking to Regina, she explored the archives a while in search of Jefferson's records. The records said nothing about his portal jumping (the archives never recorded anything about people's relations to magic for some reason), but Emma was sure it must be him. If Hook attempted to double cross her at any moment before reaching Jefferson's, she would know exactly where to go. Staying with Hook was only an occurrence because of the promise she made. Emma would not break a deal without good reason. Especially not a deal against the infamously dangerous Captain Hook.

Her thoughts were dwelling so heavily on keeping her distance from the pirate that she didn't notice the rustling in the bushes nearby.

She did, however, notice when wolves appeared out of nowhere and tackled her to the ground. She didn't even have time to scream before she was flat on the ground.

The situation became even worse when some of the wolves began turning back into their human form.

Just her luck. Werewolves were a particularly disagreeable lot. This would definitely be a difficult situation to get out of.

* * *

Hook was tied up to a tree pretty quickly by a few wolves in their human form. For some reason, the werewolves did not tie up Emma as well. They were too engrossed in what seemed to be a collective vendetta against Hook. The darkness found itself pleased with the new situation. Emma knew how to find Jefferson, and she knew what she needed to do once she got to Oz. Perhaps she should let that werewolf slit the pirate's throat with the dagger she was waving in his face.

All emotion drained from Emma's body.

No.

If Hook was going to die, it had to be by her hand.

If the darkness inside her could smile, it would have certainly smiled at her decision.

In a dry, bitter voice, Emma asked to speak to Hook before the werewolf ended his life.

She stood in front of him, giving off a cruel smile.

"Only one of us can kill Rumplestiltskin."

Then she loaded her bow and held an arrow to his face. The werewolf standing next her, the one dressed in a ridiculous amount of red, raised her eyebrows but held out her hand to halt the pack when they started advancing on Emma.

Hook's face at first look confused, then surprised, then the slightest bit sad, until he finally got a hold of himself and pushed an indifferent expression on his face. Emma kept staring at him, her fingers quivering on the string.

Her heart started pulsing in the worst way imaginable.

A breeze brushed across her face, distracting her. Breathing became difficult. The bow clattered to the forest floor and Emma suddenly felt weak. Instinctively, she stuck out her arm to catch her fall. She found herself grasping Hook's leather. The slightest bit of magic began pulsing through her like the first time they met. Hook's mouth dropped open when their eyes met. Emma slowly spread out her hand, and then rested her other palm on his chest. The darkness slipped away for another temporary absence. She didn't look away from him until the magic stopped pulsing. Then she pulled away from him. No words passed between the two of them; they were both too shocked to say anything.

The werewolf in red was still standing next to her; her eyebrows were still raised. "You two have a very strange relationship."

"I'm not sure it even qualifies as a relationship, but it is definitely weird." The only way Emma would get out of this was by appealing to the werewolves. "I'm Emma, by the way."

The werewolf raised the eyebrows she had just started to lower. "My name is Red. You know, Emma, I have killed many people in my lifetime, but there is nothing I hate more than offing someone who just wouldn't get out of the way. Are you in my way?" Red's voice grew cold. There was definitely a threatening edge to it.

"I get that Hook isn't exactly a cup of sunshine to deal with…"

"Hey!" Hook for whatever reason decided to open his mouth again.

Emma rolled her eyes. "…but that doesn't mean you need to kill him."

"Ten years ago, he pretended to be a fellow werewolf and then took off with all of our gold!"

Ten years ago. Of course he was in the Enchanted Forest ten years ago.

Emma grimaced. Revenge was definitely something she was familiar with. For whatever reason, however, she found herself pleading the pirate's case. "Should he really die for a stupid mistake he made ten years ago?"

An idea poked its way into her head. "Would a reimbursement convince you to let him live?"

"We already have that much money back," Red replied.

"Is there anything that could convince you to let him go?"

"Werewolves are outcast from the rest of society for unjust reasons. I seriously doubt you can fix that with the wave of your hand."

Emma smiled. "Maybe I can."

Red shook her head and smirked. "Right."

"Do you know who I am?"

"Should I?" Red gave her another pointed look.

"I thought everyone knew their leaders."

"Emma…Princess Emma?"

Emma nodded.

Red's voice grew incredulous. "Why are you wandering around with this pirate?"

"We are both looking for something; it isn't any of your business," she narrowed her eyes. "The point is, if there is something you want done diplomatically, I can make it happen. I may not be Queen, but I can make royal decrees on my own. I've never given one before, but there is a first time for everything."

"What exactly do you have in mind?"

"Let Hook go and we can talk about it." Emma gave her a tense smile. They stared each other down, until Red nodded at another werewolf to start untying him. They then proceeded to discuss Emma's plans.

* * *

After Emma and Red made the silent compromise, the pack became quite hospitable. A fire was built, and they ate with the pack while Emma and Red continued talking. They eventually wrote out a letter and Emma gave Red a trinket to confirm that she really had dealt with her. Red and one cohort would go to the castle with Emma's written diplomatic proposal along with an update on Emma's journey. By the time they received the letter, Regina probably would have informed them of her actions anyways.

Emma sat next to Hook when she finished with Red. They both sat in a stinging silence as the firelight flickered over their faces.

"I usually do a better job of hiding my problems, but my mood has been a bit off kilter lately," Emma said, breaking the silence.

"So you were going to kill me?"

"No. Yes. No. Yes." She shook her head. "Sometimes I don't know what I am doing," she paused. "I know we are going to see a portal jumper named Jefferson."

Hook didn't look very surprised. "Couldn't let our destination remain a mystery, could you?"

"That's not how I work. You can't know more than I do if this deal is going to work."

"I have a lot of secrets," Hook shook his head.

"So do I, but not about this. I'm…I'm sorry about earlier." The darkness made its return as she spoke those words. Its coldness consumed Emma's heart yet again.

"Right. Sure you are." The sadness in Hook's voice sent a pang through Emma's heart, but she didn't respond to it. They sat there silently. Eventually, along with the rest of the pack, they fell asleep. Dawn was barely breaking when they bid farewell to Red and set on their way.

Jefferson's place wouldn't be far now.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Kudos to you if you noticed the very subtle **_**Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?**_** allusion. After reading the utter confusion that is **_**Waiting for Godot**_**, **_**Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?**_** seems absolutely brilliant. Actually, it was brilliant before I read **_**Waiting for Godot**_**. Anyways. **

**Coming Up Next: Hook and Emma meet up with Jefferson. Jefferson sends Hook and Emma away to Oz. Hook and Emma get their first glimpse of Oz…**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I had to reread my story to make sure this stays consistent…AGH. I may spend some of my weekend updating my first three chapters with better grammar/spelling. Anyways, it's good to be back. Now that I actually have time, I hope to update this story once a week. If I don't manage to crank out another chapter this weekend, then you will probably get one next Thursday/Friday. About the Jefferson/Hook dynamic. I had so many ideas for it—with no clue which one I should pick. I started writing and my muse took over and I got a little more carried away than I expected. Less is happening in this chapter than I originally planned simply because I want to keep the size of my chapters kind of consistent. Why do Hook and Jefferson know each other? It is kind of teased in this chapter, but I don't really know—yet. That is a story for another day. Also, working with ages is kind of weird because Emma, Hook, and August are pretty much the only people in this story who are the same age they would have been at this time in the Storybrooke timeline. Emma is still 28, but Jefferson is, like, 60 now. And he was probably 50 when he became friends with Hook. Weird, huh? Review, favorite, and follow! **

**Disclaimer: Do I really need one?**

* * *

"How much longer until we reach Jefferson's?"

"You tell me, love." The smirk on Hook's face was all too clear.

Emma shook her head. "I may know where he lives but I don't exactly carry a map in my head."

"Then how did you expected to get there in the first place?"

She didn't respond. Hook didn't ask any more questions. Ever since their conversation the previous night, Hook had not been very talkative. That was alright with Emma, she did not want to talk, but it still felt strange to hear silence when she surprisingly had already gotten used to Hook speaking useless chatter.

A cottage finally appeared in front of them. A blonde woman, who was maybe 10 years older than Emma—she appeared to be more Pinocchio's age—was walking out of the house. She saw Hook, grinned, and immediately turned around, saying something through the doorway of the house. An older man suddenly came running out of the house and ran in Hook's direction. The portal jumper—the man must be Jefferson—and the pirate ran to each other, hugging, laughing and slapping each other on the back in the aggressive way only men greet each other. The woman from early walked by, shaking her head amusingly. "Nice to see you, Killian!" The woman waved in Hook's direction.

_Killian? What the hell?_

Hook smiled in the woman's direction. "Nice to see you too, Grace!"

And for the millionth time in the past couple of days, Emma found herself surprised. This was for two reasons. The first is that she was bewildered by people Hook had as friends—they immediately struck Emma as being honest people for whatever reason—on top of the fact that he even had friends at all. The second shock was that (and she did not realize this until much later) this was the first moment she had truly seen Hook look genuinely happy.

The woman walked herself over to Emma. Hope was gleaming across her face. Emma did not even know hope could be so prominent in one's facial expressions. "So why are you and Killian coming around to see Papa?"

"Killian?"

"That's his name, isn't it?"

"I call him Hook."

"Well, I guess that's his name too, but we don't call him that."

"Why not?"

"He helped Papa out 10 years ago. Killian may be a pirate, and he may have had ghastly intentions with that monster, but he is a good friend."

Emma showed a tight smile. "Guess I will add that to the ever-growing list of things I don't know about him."

"If you two aren't friends, why are you traveling together?"

"I, um, well, we have a common goal. With Rumplestiltskin."

"You, too?" Grace shook her head. The hope drained out of her face. "I had hoped that the next time I saw him, it would be a visit—not a mission."

"Sorry to disappoint you," Emma gave her another grim smile.

In that moment, Hook and Jefferson walked over to the two of them. "What are you two talking about?" Hook asked.

"Nothing, I was just getting acquainted with…" she looked at Emma.

"My name is Emma."

Grace gave her a sad smile. "…Emma."

"Well, I need to get going," she kissed Hook on the cheek.

Emma watched her walk away, feeling more and more bewildered as she moved farther and farther away. She looked at Hook. "When you were here 10 years ago, how long, exactly, did you stay here?"

Hook narrowed his eyes. "About a year."

Emma shook her head. "Explains why you had time to get into trouble _and_ make friends. Although, for someone who hasn't seen you for supposedly 10 years, Grace doesn't seem that eager to stick around and catch up."

"She has a life; I don't expect her to stick around. Besides, she is not exactly happy with me over my life choices," Hook seemed quick to move the conversation to another topic.

Jefferson nodded in Hook's direction. "I think she was hoping that the next time she saw you, it wouldn't be about revenge."

Emma looked over at Jefferson. A mix of emotions were flooding his face all at once. Hook suddenly looked rather uncomfortable.

She sighed. _Where was that bitter, crushing darkness when she needed a distraction?_ She immediately shook the thought out of her head. In the past week, the limited control she had over her heart was getting weaker and weaker. Any moment without the darkness was a blessing.

"I guess you want to use my hat now?" Jefferson asked Hook.

"You promised," Hook reminded him.

"I know," the portal jumper sighed. "Maybe we can talk later."

For two people who had looked so happy to see each other earlier, they certainly didn't seem that thrilled to see each other now.

Jefferson went inside his house and came out with a box. Hook went walking in one direction, and Jefferson waited for Emma to catch up before he started following. He started walking very close to Emma, and began whispering. "Any chance you will convince Killian that revenge isn't the best thing for him?"

Emma looked at him, surprised. "I want revenge just as badly as he does."

His face completely fell. "How did you two meet?"

"He kind of—_fell_—into my birthday ball a couple of days ago."

Jefferson raised his eyebrows. "Princess Emma?"

"Yeah."

A look of understanding washed over him, like he was privy to some information Emma did not know. "Maybe you can save him," he muttered softly.

Emma felt the air had been completely sucked out of her chest. "Wh-wh-at?"

The portal jumper sadly smiled at her. "Rumplestiltskin thinks he can change the future, but he cannot." With those words, Jefferson sped up, leaving Emma with words caught in her throat.

It would be a while before she could even begin to understand what he had said.

* * *

Hook and Jefferson led Emma to another cabin in the middle of the woods—a really old, shabby, busted up cabin. The inside was not all that pleasant either. A small table was propped up in front of the glass-less window. A chain—_a chain!?_—was attached to the wall and laid out on said table. The place gave Emma a really bad omen. Everyone else looked just as grim as she felt.

She felt even grimmer as Jefferson pulled out the tattered purple hat from the beat up box he had tugged along in the forest.

Jefferson turned to Hook. "Does she know the rules?"

Hook shook his head no.

"Listen close, Emma. This hat has the ability to take you to any realm you want, as long as the realm has magic in it. Anyone with magic can spin this hat for it to work, but I will operate it for the purposes of the venture. No magic comes without its price. The price of this hat is its rules. Only the same number of people who go through a door…" Emma raised her eyebrows at the mentioning of a door. "…can come out again. If one person goes in, one person goes out. If two people go in…"

Emma added, "Two people come out."

Jefferson gave her a quick nod. "The people who leave, however, do not have to be the same people who came in. You have to trust your partner if you are going to do this."

She gulped and glanced in Hook's directions. He was leaning back on the table, avoiding Emma's gaze.

"Okay," she said softly. She could have sworn Hook's entire body shifted with her words.

"Only the two of you will be going. When I spin the hat, both of you will jump in. Then you will go through the door that leads you to Oz. I am sure you can figure out which door that is." A twinkle in Jefferson's eyes somehow appeared despite his grim disposition.

He suddenly leaned in, whispering in Emma's ear again. "He won't abandon you. You may think he will, but I know him better. If he were going to abandon you, he'd have already done it by now." His voice grew even softer. "I don't know why you think you want to be in the revenge business, but if you ever think you can come out of it, try to bring Killian out with you."

Emma found herself speechless yet again. Jefferson pulled himself away. Hook remained avoidant and expressionless. There was no sign that he heard any of Jefferson's whispers.

She kind of wish he had heard, if only to see the expression on his face.

"This cabin is fairly excluded. I will check by every once in a while, but you don't need to worry about someone finding it. Once you go through a door no one can follow you."

Jefferson spun the hat with the flick of his wrist. The portal filled the inside of the shabby cabin. The table and chain stayed surprisingly still, despite the chaos. Wind and purple magic began swirling around the hat. Jefferson pressed himself up against the door. "Oh, and Princess Emma?" She turned in his direction. "It was a pleasure serving you." He gave her a quick bow before he walked out the door. Emma had always _been_ a royal, but she never really _felt_ like a royal. Not until recently, anyways. She gulped in some air. The darkness came back for a visit. Hook held his hand out to Emma. She grabbed it, and then they jumped.

* * *

They landed in a circular room of various doors. _That's what Jefferson was talking about_. There was a looking-glass door, a brick wall—_what kind of horror is hidden behind that wall?_—and several other doors with identifiable but confusing markings. A green curtain caught her eye. Two green ovals with yellow Z's slashed through it were hanging in front of it. Emma glanced over towards Hook. He was eyeing that curtain as well.

It was in that moment that Emma realized she was still holding his hand.

She quickly let go.

They both collectively let out a breath.

Hook motioned towards the door. Emma nodded.

They stepped through…only to find themselves in a gray, black and white house.

At first Emma felt bitter. She was certain this door had to be it. The curtain practically had a _sign_ on it. She slapped Hook in the shoulder. "Good going! You picked the wrong door!" The whine was practically dripping through her words. Hook looked rather irritated with her actions.

Suddenly her heart felt just the slightest bit lighter.

Emma poked Hook in the side, a little more playfully than angrily. She started teasing him. "Killian picked the wrong door; Killian picked the wrong door, Killian-" she stopped teasing when she saw the look on his face.

Hook barely managed to choke it out. "Killian…?"

Shit.

If he was anything like her, names were an issue of importance. Saying his real name without permission was definitely the kind of thing that would bother him.

"I'm sorry…Grace used the name and, I don't know, it sounds less…_menacing_—that's all. I really don't know why I said it." Emma pulled her fingers through her hair and tried not to look him in the eye.

She didn't feel so light-hearted anymore.

"My real name is Killian Jones. That name is kind of a thing of the past, but if you want to use it…you can." His words dragged very slowly as he spoke. It obviously took a lot for him to say it.

_He would let her use his real name?_

She did not know what to say after that, so she changed the subject. "Seriously though, shouldn't Oz be…I don't know…_colorful_?"

"I don't understand either…unless…" He paused and stared off in another direction.

He was looking at a door.

Emma's voice got soft. "Do you think…?"

"There is only one way to find out."

They both stepped towards the door. Hook—whoever he was—gestured towards the doorknob. They were standing very closely to each other. His closeness made it harder for Emma to breath. She grasped the doorknob just to find an escape from his closeness.

Emma's heart dropped from the pit of her chest as the door swung open, revealing what was outside the room. She murmured to herself. "What was it Dorothy said? 'I don't think I am in Kansas anymore?'"

Hook was still too close. "Whatever Kansas is, it couldn't possibly compare with this."

Emma smiled. With that remark, Hook was very right.

They both stepped out.

* * *

**A/N: I am actually feeling really sneaky now. There is so much foreshadowing in this chapter, but some of it probably won't become obvious until much, much later… **

**Coming Up Next: Where did Dorothy's house land in Oz? **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm back! Between exams and a teeny tiny case of writer's block, it took me a while to motivate myself to write again. I apologize for the month long wait. Shout out to my beta reader, 4getfulimaginator, for helping with some plot and name ideas!**

**Disclaimer: Nope. Just nope.**

* * *

The flowers were ridiculously colorful, and the winding yellow and red brick roads made Emma feel dizzy if she stared too hard, but she still found herself entranced. Oz was beautiful, even if it felt like an aspect of a dream Emma never had.

Hook and Emma walked across the road; the bricks were surprisingly smooth and terribly easy to walk—or slide, as Emma childishly wanted to do—across. She glanced in Hook's direction, expecting to see a face mirroring her own. Instead, he looked incredibly somber. Emma reminded herself to ask about his sudden shift in personality later.

Suddenly, a bush twitched out of the corner of Emma's eye, and she quickly pulled out her bow and arrows. She almost shot the arrow in the bush's direction, but Hook put a stop to that when he grasped her arms and pressed up against her back.

The sudden contact made her feel lightheaded.

He removed the weapon from her hand and put it in the quiver on her back.

She spun around to ask him what he was doing, taking only a second to realize her mistake. He was incredibly, dangerously close and the pace of his breathes matched her own. Once again, his too-close presence made her speechless.

That is, until he had the audacity to wink at her.

Her muddled mind immediately snapped out of it and pulled away. Her cheeks burned when she noticed the amused, almost laughing expression on his face.

"Why did you disarm me?"

He simply gestured towards the bush. "Just watch."

Exasperation clouded Emma's judgment for a few seconds, but she soon realized what he was saying. "Are they…we are…in Munchkin land." She smiled.

"And everyone just so happens to be sleeping," Hook said.

She looked in his direction, a question on her face. "Do Munchkins take really long naps in the middle of the day or something?"

Hook shrugged. "Maybe. It is more likely, however, that it is still early in the morning and that is why they aren't awake."

With those words, the Munchkins finally started showing signs of life. All at once, they started to rise from the ground and walk around. Hook and Emma stood frozen in their spots.

The Munchkins did not notice them at first, but one of them finally did. Soon enough, every single Munchkin that was out and about froze and stared at them.

Silence spread across Munchkinland.

One of them finally stepped forward and said in a squeaky voice, "We are used to strangers like you. The Good Witch will come and help you." The brave Munchkin then turned away, taking the Munchkin crowd's attention with her.

Hook leaned in for a whisper. "They are used to strangers like us? What does that mean?"

Emma whispered back, "They are probably talking about Dorothy."

"Right. How is it that we never seem to remember the same information about the realm of Oz?"

"The truth is…I don't really do a lot of reading. Dorothy's tale is pretty much the only one I know."

"Tell me, do you think it is possible to be _good_ and a _witch_ at the same time?"

"Anyone who practices magic is automatically bad, in my opinion."

"Including yourself?"

With those words, Emma started, gaping at Hook. He had said the question so completely without amusement or teasing that it took Emma by surprise. She almost did not answer. "I said anyone."

The conversation suddenly became softer. Hook disagreed with a whisper, "Why do you think so little of yourself?"

"What?" The word barely made its way past Emma's lips.

The sudden appearance of a large, floating pink bubble completely halted the conversation. Even the Munchkins froze in complete and utter awe, despite their familiarity with the Good Witch.

A woman, donned in pink, popped out of the bubble. Glitter glimmered around her and a simple crown sat atop her head. She immediately set upon introducing herself to the awed spectators.

"I am Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. I come here to greet all newcomers." Her voice was rather squeaky too, although gentle. She immediately struck Emma as a very appropriate person to be in charge of a group like the Munchkins. The Good Witch stepped a bit closer. "You are here to kill the Wicked Witch of the West. The magic in you is very strong."

"How can it be strong? I only just discovered I had it–"

"A few days ago…" the Witch paused, gesturing towards Hook. "…when you touched him."

"How do you know that?" Emma's voice grew as soft as it had in her previous conversation with Hook.

"I know many things. I know that your heart is so black you find yourself incapable of breathing. I know that your heart commands you to do things you don't want to do." she smiled. "And I also know that any heart can be mended."

The darkness angrily pulsated around Emma's heart. Her voice still came out softly. "How?"

"Only you can figure that out."

Emma's heart—her real heart amidst all the darkness—sank.

"There is no reason to be upset. You will figure it out. The answer is close and easy to find. That is not, however, important now. You wish to kill the Wicked Witch so you can talk to the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard will gladly talk to you if you complete the task. It, however, is not an easy one to achieve. Many magical people have tried and failed to complete this task. You, however, have a companion. He would make a good distraction for the monkeys."

Hook showed anguish at the prospect, only to reveal he had no idea what the Witch was talking about. "Excuse me?! And what monkeys?"

"Flying monkeys guard the Wicked Witch. Get with the program," Emma prodded him, half serious and half joking.

"You are also made of a different kind of magic," the Witch continued.

"I am…? What kind of magic?"

The Witch shrugged her shoulders and gave a teasing smile.

"Seriously?! If you are going to be mysterious, don't speak at all!" The darkness pulsated around Emma.

"Some answers cannot be spoken. They have to be discovered."

"Whatever." Emma rolled her eyes. "How do we find the Wicked Witch?"

"Now, _that_ I can help you with." She gestured with her wand in the air. "Follow the red brick road."

"Where does the yellow brick road lead?"

"It leads to the Emerald City, home of the Wizard of Oz. You want to find the Wicked Witch first."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Do you know how to kill her by any chance?"

"She is my sister. Even if I did know, I would be prevented from sharing information that could harm her. That is the one terrible thing about my sister also being my enemy. We cannot do anything to harm or stop one another."

Emma nodded. "I can understand…" Her voice was tentative. "…_that_. Just follow the red brick road?"

"Follow the red brick road."

The Munchkins suddenly started singing a song using the Witch's directions as their lyrics—these people were by far the strangest she had ever met—but Emma was not listening.

_Rumplestiltskin thinks he can change the future, but he cannot._

_The answer is close and easy to find._

_She found herself grasping Hook's leather. The slightest bit of magic began pulsing through her like the first time they met._

Various memories from the previous days floated around her head. The world suddenly seemed privy to information Emma did not have, and that frustrated her.

As they walked around the spiraling brick road, Emma tried to push the swirling thoughts out of her head. She glanced at Hook, and found him in a rare, laughing, joyous state. For whatever reason, he was enjoying the situation that was transpiring. Uninvited warmth spread through her heart. Hook looked back at her and smirked. "Too serious to have a bit of fun?"

"You are the one being serious as of late!" A smile threatened to make its way across Emma's face as she walked briskly forward to catch up with him. She poked him in the side as her face broke out into a grin, all darkness forgotten. "Shut up."

Joy radiated through her. They skipped and jumped away with the Munchkins all the way to the border of their land. They continued by themselves after that.

"That…" Hook said, "…was one of the weirdest experiences I have ever gone through."

Emma smiled. "I agree with that…but at least no one is surreptitiously dropping hints about your future!"

He grinned. "I noticed that. What is this about a dark heart? It couldn't be that different from mine, but the Good Witch did not seem too concerned with me."

"My heart is different from yours."

"How is that?"

"It controls me. It defines me. I don't know why it is there. I don't want it there. And it isn't something that is entirely of my own making, like yours." _Where did that comment come from?_

Hook grimaced at those words. "All darkness is of the owner's own making. Don't lie to yourself."

"Why are you so happy one minute and so serious the next?"

"Why do you tolerate me one minute and try to kill me in the next?"

"Who said I tolerated you?"

"Why do you pulsate with magic when you touch me? That's not my doing."

"Who is Milah?"

Hook froze. "Wh-wh-at?"

"Her name is on the tattoo."

"It is not important." He turned and started walking away.

"Did Rumplestiltskin kill her?"

Hook froze again, his back still turned to hers.

For the first time, Emma began to understand something about her reluctant companion. "He killed my love too. I know the feeling."

Hook turned and gave Emma a smile, despite the sad emptiness dominating his face. "If you weren't always trying to kill me, we might actually get along, love."

Hook went back to using nicknames and Emma went back to feeling like his presence set her on fire. "It was only the one…" her voiced trailed. She looked him directly in the eyes and the words practically leaped out of her mouth. "I am sorry."

"Okay, love."

They walked on in silence.

* * *

The walk along the red brick road was silent for the two travelers. Questions swirled in Emma's head; some pertained to Hook and some did not. Furthermore, Hook was back to his deathly serious-quiet phase. In fact, ever since the meeting with Jefferson and Grace, Hook had acted quieter than usual. Emma would do anything to get the talking, storytelling pirate back; the quiet was infinitely more unsettling than any tale he might tell. Furthermore, she was no longer sure what to call him anymore. Hearing his real name was obviously something he was not used to. Emma was also beginning to suspect that Hook and Killian were two different people…and she could never be sure which one she is dealing with.

Emma could not bear the silence anymore, so she brought up a less penetrating, personal question. "Why do you have a hook instead of a hand?"

Hook turned around, his face blank. "The Crocodile—Rumplestiltskin—cut it off."

And just like that Emma had already begun to overstep personal boundaries. She figured that, at this point, she might as well continue. "How did you meet Milah?"

"I met her in a bar when I was in port one week. She was married to the village coward and she wanted out. I took her with me when I left port. Several years later, we met her husband again. This time he was different. He was no longer a man, even if he was more of a coward."

Thousands of thoughts were left unspoken among his words, and somehow Emma understood every bit of it.

"How did you meet your love?"

Emma swallowed and carefully spoke. She did not want to say it, but she could not expect to keep prying into Hook's past without sharing her own. "I knew him my entire life. One day I realized I loved him and…" she paused, "…he loved me back. Before I knew it he was different...and then he was gone. I thought I was going to have the simple, easy love story my parents had. Instead love crushed my entire world into millions of pieces."

"You didn't get an easy love story because that is not what you want."

"How could you possibly know what I want?"

"Open book, love. You believe love is something that must be fought for. It cannot happen because one prince decided to kiss a princess on the battlefield. Real love comes with trouble. It comes with pain. You may not want to say it, but that is exactly what you think."

"And how exactly did you come to this conclusion?" Emma gave him a smirk.

"The empty look in your eyes says more than you can possibly imagine."

The smirk slipped from Emma's face. For once the darkness seemed content to leave her alone...and because of that she did not know what to say.

It turned out that she did not need to say anything. In that very moment, an armored man jumped out of a tree and tackled Killian—yes, the broken man speaking with her was definitely Killian—to the ground.

* * *

It is a strange thing to have a man suddenly tackle the person you were having a conversation with, especially when you had no reason to suspect his presence. Even stranger is the feeling of invisibility, when the mysterious man seems to leave the other traveler to their own devices and completely unnoticed. Emma blinked and stared with her mouth gaping open as the two men tussled on the ground in a rather aggressive manner. She was at a loss for what to do until her impulses took over. Her darkness sent her over the edge and suddenly she was throwing herself into the middle of the fight. It was only a manner of seconds before Emma and Hook together managed to pin the attacker to the ground.

At first Emma stayed in her position, but the armor beneath her became stiff and irritating. Something else started to slowly creep into her mind. As her heartbeat slowed and her mind became less muddled, she became aware of Hook's presence…_on top of her_. She didn't really know what to say after that and was relieved when Hook took the initiative to break the silence.

As he slowly pulled himself off of Emma, he said, "Bloody hell, what just happened to us?"

Emma merely shook her head in confusion and stared at the man beneath her as she too stood up. The attacker remained motionless on the ground and peered up at the both of them. His face was firm and stiff, but Emma saw something else beneath all the glowering and toughness. For whatever reason, she found herself pitying the man instead of feeling angry towards him. She could _feel_ that something was missing, that something was lacking in this man's life.

Suddenly, she just knew. Whether it was a feeling due to experience, or something attributed to her magic, she didn't know. All Emma knew was that she was right. She knelt down next to the man and placed her hand over the area where his heart _should_ be located. Her eyebrows scrunched together and her voice came out very softly as she spoke. "Who took it from you?"

With those words, the man completely lost his composure and tears welled up in his eyes.

"Took what?" Hook interrupted.

"His heart," she responded in the previously used soft voice. Surprise took her as she noticed his face turn completely white at the words.

The man finally spoke. "The Witch took it."

Emma responded without a single hesitation. "If the Witch has it, we will get it back for you."

She felt surprise yet again when Hook immediately nodded his head in complete agreement and approval. He offered his hand to the man in an effort to get him up, and the weeping man accepted. The pirate in turn could only offer his hook to Emma, her eyes never leaving his eyes as she pulled herself up. She gazed at the shockingly vulnerable man standing in front of her―something about this heartless attacker was affecting him.

And suddenly Emma saw him in a complete different light. Hook was mysterious and infuriating and intimidating. Killian was the same way, with one change. Hope and light and vulnerability radiated throughout his face in that state.

Killian sent a warm, shuddering crack through the darkness pulsating around Emma's heart.

It took everything in her to break their eye contact and focus on their new companion.

* * *

The attacker's name was Graham. He was a bounty hunter in Oz, always working for the highest bidder. That is, he did work for the highest bidder. The Wicked Witch had cruelly and mercilessly taken his heart and forced him to do her bidding.

The truly disturbing part is that Graham was sent to destroy Killian and Emma because she knew why they had come to Oz.

Somehow, she knew that Emma had her goals set on killing her.

Lacking a heart meant Graham had a difficult time feeling anything. He had gained the moniker "Tin Man" throughout the land in reference to his heartless, cold attitude. When two complete strangers, however, showed concern for him…

It meant everything.

And Emma couldn't let another person die like her love had.

_Alec __crumpled to the ground. Rumplestiltskin opened his hand and let the dust from his heart fall towards the floor. Emma didn't care about what __Alec __had done to her._

_She was screaming._

_Her heart shattered with his heart._

_She welcomed the darkness with open arms._

Emma blinked the memories away as Killian broke the silence. "Rumplestiltskin crushed her heart. I watched the light drain out of Milah's eyes and…and...there was nothing I could do to save her."

Emma was absolutely speechless. Graham started glancing back and forth between the two of them, his eyebrows raised. Thankfully he didn't ask any questions; he was perceptive that way.

"Alec died the same way."

Killian suddenly grabbed her hand, rubbing circles with his thumb. "I'd like to say I'm sorry, but we both know that will not mend anything."

Emma nodded in response and carefully pulled her hand out of his grasp.

The same annoying, fiery feeling spread through her body. Her heart started beating faster, and she looked for a distraction. She made eye contact with Graham.

"We are going to kill the Witch, and we need your help."

* * *

**Coming Soon: The plot really starts to take off in the next chapter. After planning their attack strategy with Graham, Killian and Emma enter the Wicked Witch's fortress.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: This chapter turned out a bit differently than I initially planned, but the story is what the muse wants!**

**Disclaimer: I own bloody nothing.**

* * *

_"We are going to kill the Witch, and we need your help."_

When Emma spoke that sentence to Graham, doubt spread throughout her mind. She knew exactly what was wrong with the situation, but she chose not to acknowledge it. Instead she continued with her probing questions and commands.

"The Wicked Witch has a crystal ball through which she can see you. I suggest you try to cloak yourself from her powers. The real problem in all of this, however, is what to do with me."

Graham's eyes fluttered to the ground. "How do you know these are my words, and not those of the Witch?"

There it was ― Graham had confirmed Emma's worst fear. "I know you can control a person's actions if you have their heart, but can you control their words, too?" She did not need him to speak to confirm what she had already suspected. It was true: Graham could not be trusted.

She had hoped she could move forward with naïvety. Instead, she would have to rid herself of the only person she truly felt she could help. She leaned back against a tree, defeated. Killian then stepped towards Graham and handed him something she could not see. Graham nodded, stepped back, and raised his hand to his mouth. Realization rushed through Emma. "_No_!"

She ran forward but was too late, as Killian was already lowering the collapsing man to the ground. At first anger rushed through her, but a look from Killian changed that. He harshly said, "What? Did you think we could let him stand around and possibly misguide us? If we are going to help him and kill this Witch at the same time, we cannot let outside forces interfere."

Emma looked to the ground. "I know… I just hoped… Nevermind."

Killian's face softened. "You've seen a man's actions controlled because someone else had his heart?"

"Yes."

The look on her face stopped him from questioning further.

"The cloak might not be a bad idea," Killian suggested.

"Yes, but I don't exactly have control over my magic, if that's what you are expecting!" Emma suddenly felt irritated. This _pirate_ kept pushing and probing into her past. He was reading her like an open book and it was starting to bother her.

He was starting to know things about her that nobody else knew about her.

Killian's next words snapped her out of her contemplation. "You have never had trouble using it before! If I recall correctly, you keep trying to kill me with it!"

"I haven't used magic on you that often. Get over it already!" Her anger was beginning to match his.

He pushed her up against a tree, holding his hook to her neck.

This made her go berserk. Magic practically flew out of her body, dragging Killian with it. His back slammed against another tree. Emma was ready to attack him—she was—but realization dawned on her again. Magic was pulsating through her like it belonged there. A tiny smile sneaked across her face as she created a shimmery force field around her and her companions. _We should definitely be invisible from the crystal ball now._

Killian's groaning broke her out of her quiet victory. She rushed over to his side and pressed a hand to his cheek. Her voice came out shakier than she expected. "One of these days I might actually kill you."

"Better to die by your hands than by someone else's."

His surprising words made her heart start racing. "Why would you say that?" She spoke the question so softly she was not entirely sure she had really said it.

"I don't know. Why would I?" Killian sat up as he spoke those words, speaking just as softly. He leaned in, just inches away from her face. Her heart began beating even faster. A sudden rush of warmth ran through her and she leaned forward as well. They were just a ghost of a kiss away from each other, and Emma _was_ going to kiss him, when…

A whistling traveler interrupted the moment, making them pull away from each other. Emma let out a sigh she had not even realized she'd been holding.

"Hey, mate!" Killian shouted in the direction of the traveler.

He turned around and grinned when the traveler did not respond. "You're bloody brilliant. He cannot see _or_ hear us."

Emma smiled. "I guess he can't."

Still smiling, Killian added, "We have some work to do."

* * *

"How much do you know about this castle?"

"I didn't know how to get to it until Glinda told us, but I have an idea of what it will look like. I was here one time before. Remember how I said I met Jefferson 10 years ago?" Emma nodded as Killian continued speaking. "I came to Oz ten years ago, looking for a portal jumper who had previously worked for Rumplestiltskin. I heard he was in a lot of trouble, and I figured that I could get information if I helped him. I got him out of trouble, and he took me back to the Enchanted Forest. I didn't learn much about the Wicked Witch because I didn't care, but I learned about her castle in my travels there before I met Jefferson. It is built in a mountain; hundreds of pointed rocks surround it. If we continue following this road, we will eventually come up to the mountain. The best thing to do is to keeping following the road until we can see the castle, and then we should circle around and enter by climbing up and over the rocks. I don't know how easy the task will be, but if we are careful we can at least come in undetected."

Emma listened to his words, but his information about the castle wasn't what interested her. "What went wrong with Jefferson and Grace?"

She could not have possibly prepared for the sad look that crossed his face. He looked upset when he talked about Milah, but his face looked even worse now.

He looked down to the ground as he spoke. "I got too close to them. They thought too highly of me. I was only with them to learn about Rumplestiltskin. I finally decided to tell Jefferson, to tell him I was _deceiving_ them, and the only thing he could say was that he knew. He _knew_ the entire time why I was befriending them and neither he nor Grace cared. They thought they could change me." He looked up and made eye contact with Emma as he shared the rest of his story.

"When I learned that, I had to leave. They were starting to feel like a family, _my family_, and every time I think I finally have family, it gets ripped away from me. They weren't surprised when I left, and they told me I was always welcome to stay with them. There I was, showing them exactly who I was, and they still cared about me. I learned the location of a few beans, and I deceived the werewolves on my way to stealing those beans. I learned about the Wicked Witch several years later and I left Neverland again. I landed in your castle. Met you. Saw Rumplestiltskin for the first time in centuries. Then I went to Oz with you. That is it. I've never told anyone about this before, and I wasn't planning on telling you, but I don't know what is going to happen when we try to find the Witch, and, well, somebody should know the truth about me if something happens."

In her heart, Emma knew absolutely everything he said was the truth. He completely and totally had bared his heart to her, and she didn't know what to say. When she raised her hand to her cheek, she was surprised to feel how wet it was.

"I am crying," Emma said, partly to Killian and partly to herself. "I haven't cried since Alec died."

Ten years of hidden, stored up tears suddenly poured through her. She stared at the man in front of her and felt her heart completely break _for him_. Something made him trust her with this information, and now something was making her care for him. In an impulsive move neither of them expected, she rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his waist. They stood there for what could have been minutes, or maybe hours, and only let go when they finally remembered why they were there in the first place. They made a few more plans for their "attack", tied poor Graham to a tree, and then erased the cloak as they began their journey on the red brick road once again.

* * *

"Now that I know a flying monkey is indeed a _flying monkey_, I don't feel like I should fear them anymore," Emma said in a weak attempt to lighten the mood.

"If Neverland taught me anything at all, it was that even the most harmless looking creature can cause a great deal of harm. Numbers also tip the odds…"

Emma cut Killian off. "I didn't say that so you could point out the many ways we could die today."

The next words out of his mouth filled her with surprise. "Is this really worth it? Killing the Witch for a chance at killing Rumplestiltskin?"

"Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be worth it?"

A brief flicker of unmistakable sadness crossed Killian's face. "After 300 years of trying, you begin to lose your gumption. You lose all hope. What if revenge doesn't make it any better?

What if it makes everything worse?"

"It's worth it. It has to be worth it. For the past ten years, everything within me has told me it will fix it. I've fought the dark spot on my heart for as long as I can remember. Maybe I should finally give it what it wants." Emma began to wonder if she was trying to convince him or herself.

"It is impossible to stop feeding the darkness once you start. Let's be honest now, Emma: what did you do to warrant such an evil force within your heart?"

"I told you before. I didn't do anything to create it. I just fell in love with the wrong man."

"Darkness doesn't work that way. Whatever it was you did, you can tell me. I am in no position to judge."

"I told you the truth."

"Alright then. If we are being _honest_ then, tell me this: what happens if one of us dies and the other lives?"

Emma cringed at his words. "The survivor can take Graham back with them."

"What if the survivor doesn't have Graham's heart?"

"STOP. Just stop. You will save Graham, and I will kill the Witch. There is no reason to concern ourselves with hypotheticals!" Emma was practically sputtering with anger over Killian's newly found negativity. "You know what? Just go. The Witch's room is probably up where that balcony is. The heart will be in some kind of hidden alcove. Move quickly, stay in the shadows, and pray to God that the Witch isn't looking through her crystal ball."

"We would be better as a team," Killian added.

"We are harder to detect if we go in separate," Emma retorted.

"Fine."

With that word, Killian gritted his teeth and started his climb down, as quietly as possible. Emma followed suit, but turned in a different direction once she entered the castle. She walked down the dark, dank hallway for what felt like hours, slipping around corners and around oblivious flying monkeys. The large, open door frame was almost too obvious, yet Emma walked through it anyway.

The doors slammed behind her the moment her second foot entered the room. Wind gusted through her hair, and a cackle filled the room. A green figure donned in a black cape and pointy hat appeared in front of her.

"You may think you are going to kill me, but you fell for my little trap! Anyone who enters this room without my permission is put on the clock," the Witch cackled, gesturing towards an hourglass filled with red sand. "No one has ever made it out of the Room of Regret alive."

She disappeared after she said those words. Emma felt herself unfreeze…she had not even realized until that moment that the Witch had temporarily paralyzed her.

_Room of Regret? Why name it the Room of Regret?_

In that moment, the plain, white ball to the side of the room caught her eye. She walked towards it, despite the added despair every step gave her.

"Show me my parents," Emma whispered.

Finally, her father and mother appeared as an image in the ball. At first glance everything seemed okay, but Emma soon realized that her father was dressed in armor and that rows of soldiers were lined up behind him.

He was saying goodbye to her mother.

_He could not say goodbye to his daughter._

Gasps and choking sobs filled Emma's throat. "Why is my father preparing for war?"

The brief image of Rumplestiltskin is all she needed to understand what was going on back at home.

"What about Killian?"

The image that met her was not pleasant. Killian, just like her, had found himself in a situation he could not get out of. Despair filled her as she watched. As the anger fluctuated inside of her, more and more images of Emma's past and the present flowed through the ball.

She could not take it anymore.

She snapped, sending a flicker of magic coursing through the room.

For the briefest of seconds, a new image appeared in place of the other images.

"No. It can't be," Emma said, her eyes widening.

She reached to touch the ball, only to get zapped with a strong current.

Then it dawned on her.

Only someone with _magic_ can kill the Witch.

Or did it mean that only someone with magic could find a way to kill the Witch?

Emma breathed in, trying to think of every emotionally tied memory of her life—the good ones and the bad ones. It only took a few seconds for the magic to engulf her hands, and she immediately pushed her hands through the surface of the crystal ball when it happened. She grasped the object within and pulled it out.

She hastily breathed in more air.

What was needed to kill the Witch?

_A heart._

* * *

_**Guess what? Writing reviews is good for the soul.**_


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: This is my favorite chapter so far. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own it. Never have, never will.**

* * *

Never in a thousand, million, infinite number of years did Emma believe she would ever hold the key to a person's life in her hands.

Her heart hammered in her chest because of fear, because of anguish, because her ability to stand up to any trial that faced her was fading. She couldn't hold a heart. A heart. _A heart._

She could not do this.

She was the wrong person for this job.

Emma barely registered the flying monkeys surrounding her in the room, nor did she notice the Witch's arrival.

* * *

_For weeks Alec had behaved strangely, but Emma was too in love to notice. It was her birthday, the day she could finally call herself an adult, so she ignored the hazy look in his eyes and let him into her room. She did not care that her brain was furiously trying to warn her, or that a bad vibe reverberated through the air._

_Emma let him, chattered away about her birthday ball plans, and turned away from him, completely oblivious to the strange look appearing on his face._

_Next thing she knew, his__hand__was in her chest and she could not breathe._

_Questions flew around her head, and words tried to escape her mouth, but Emma found herself completely frozen, her actions outside of her own control._

_Alec's face scrunched up in confusion. He kept pushing, pushing, pushing. Breathing became more and more difficult._

_Then a blast of black smoke appeared in the air, and Alec shot all the way across the room._

_Emma might have noticed the strange, tingling, dark sensation coursing through her body and into her heart, but she was too distracted. It had been years since she'd seen Rumplestiltskin, but she still recognized him as the man who suddenly appeared in front of her, holding a heart. A heart._A heart_._

_She made eye contact with Alec across the room. She realized now her mistake. The hazy look was gone from his eyes. This man had returned to the person she truly knew, but now it was too late. His mouth muttered the words "I'm sorry."_

_Alec crumpled to the ground. Rumplestiltskin opened his hand and let the dust from his heart fall towards the floor. Emma didn't care about what Alec had done to her._

_She was screaming._

_Her heart shattered with his heart._

_She welcomed the incoming darkness with open arms._

_Rumplestiltskin disappeared. Alec's body disappeared._

_And Emma's sanity disappeared. She__went__through every fragile object she could find around the room. Her heart was shattered, and she wanted everything thing else in her life to shatter._

_For the briefest of moments, she felt a rush of calm. She leaned against the door, panting, exhausted. Then the brief warmth in__her__heart that fought against the darkness disappeared._

_So she cried. She cried and she cried and she cried. Emma vowed so many things in that moment. She vowed to never tell anyone what had happened, to never open her heart to anyone ever again, and, most importantly of all, she vowed to make Rumplestiltskin pay._

* * *

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Her heart beat in her head.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Chaos ensued around her as the Witch and her henchman desperately tried to get her to hand over the heart.

Realization came over her. She wanted to tell someone what happened, to open up her heart, to finally forget about the vengeful thoughts that had plagued the recent years of her life. Someone else's life rested in her hands, and somehow that was enough to finally fill her with clarity.

For once, she wanted to do the right thing and push the darkness aside. The heart in her hands was red and clean and pure, quite unlike the black heart someone like the Witch _should_ have.

She walked up into the Witch and did the absolute unthinkable by pushing the heart into the Witch's chest.

The most powerful rush of magic Emma had ever seen pushed through the room, throwing everyone back, sending them into a brief, shadowy darkness.

* * *

When Emma regained consciousness, she noticed an immediate change in the room. Everything was brighter and happier. The monkeys no longer appeared harmful, and the Witch was gone.

Well. Not technically. The foreboding green monster was forever gone, but the woman, or rather, girl who encompassed that monster was still there. A dark-haired, delicate, maybe fifteen-year-old _child_ knelt on the floor in place of the Witch, crying.

She lifted her eyes in Emma's direction. "I've been that way for so long…I didn't even remember who I used to be. My-my-my-sister did this to me," the child was practically choking on her words.

"Glinda?" Emma asked.

The girl shook her head no.

"Did Glinda know what happened to you?!"

"Yes, but the Wiz-wiz-wizard's prophecy said someone else was meant to save me. And she knows better than to interfere with a prophecy."

"He told you that you were _supposed_ to be this way?"

"And you were meant to save me. He knew what would happen to me, and he knew that someone would save me, that you would save me."

The shadowy, dark feeling passed through Emma again and her voice grew cold. "What else does he know about me?"

"Everything. And nothing. He knew how to convince you to come and whether or not you would pass the test."

"Test?"

"If you had tried to kill me, you would have failed. The Witch could not be killed. She could only be saved. You figured out the answer, you rescued me, and now he knows that your destiny is ready to be fulfilled."

"_My destiny_?!"

The girl locked eyes with Emma and whispered the next words. "You saved me. Now you are going to save everyone else. I can't tell you how, or even why, but I know what I am saying is true. Take the pirate and the huntsman's heart. Leave. Go see the Wizard. Go home. And know that if you ever come back, you are always welcome here. I am forever in your debt, and I could spend a lifetime trying to pay you back, but now there are other things you need to be doing."

Emma sighed, feeling too completely and utterly exhausted to argue. "Where is Killian, anyways?"

"Why do you call him Killian? No one else does."

Emma grinned, "I just do."

The girl suddenly started blushing. "Oh. He is your love, isn't he?"

Emma froze. "My what?"

The girl continued smiling and blushing. "Ohhh. You haven't realized it yet."

"Don't be ridiculous. I haven't 'realized it' because it isn't true."

The girl continued smiling. "I will show you where he is."

She bounded out of the room, with joy radiating off her. The girl turned around. "I am Theodora, by the way."

"My name is Emma."

"I know."

"Of course you know," Emma said, smiling and shaking her head.

* * *

When Emma walked into the cell, Killian's face completely lit up.

"You did this. You changed this place. I _knew_ you would do something amazing."

Theodora stepped out from behind Emma's shadow. Killian's face completely crumpled. "She was keeping a _child_ captive?!"

Emma softly smiled. "In a way, yes. This is Theodora. She used to be the Witch."

For a few seconds, he just stared. Then a smile broke across his face again. "Brilliant, lass."

Only two emotions danced across his face. One was pride, the other admiration. _For her_. For the second time that day, she had to blink back tears.

As she unlocked his cuffs and his admiring gaze still rested upon her, something occurred to her.

Maybe he actually cares about her. _Probably_ _not_. He is proud of her, definitely, but does that mean he has feelings for her? _No_. _That cannot be true. Theodora could not possibly know what she was talking about._ Any hopeful thought that fluttered through her head was squashed. She decided she would not let herself think about the possibility.

"We are going to return Graham's heart, and then we will visit the Wizard because he has something he has been waiting to say to me," she paused before she said the next words, "I-I don't care so much about getting revenge anymore."

Killian nodded his head in response, silently agreeing with her.

She was not sure if the response surprised her, or if she was secretly expecting it. _He brought up the futility of revenge before we entered the castle. This is probably genuine. Maybe. Why would he be doubtful of revenge in the first place? _

All she could tell herself was that a man without noticeable motives was a man who should not be trusted. Even so, an inexplicable warm feeling filled her heart as he followed her out the room down the hall to retrieve Graham's heart. For the moment she would push aside her doubts about him and focus on the tasks ahead of her.

* * *

Graham was still knocked out when Emma and Killian found him again. After cutting him off the tree, they sat down just off the side of the road, waiting for him to wake up.

"What did you mean when you said the Wizard has something he's been waiting to say to you?"

"I really don't know. According to Theodora, he's known for years that I would come and break Theodora's curse. He knew _before_ Theodora was cursed that this would happen. He knows something about me. There is something he thinks I am supposed to do and I will find out what that is if I meet with him."

"He knew all this time that Theodora couldn't really be killed but he pretended to think otherwise. I don't trust him. Someone who lies for such a long period of time can't be trusted."

"I know that, Killian. I don't trust him either, but I will at least give him a chance to speak for himself. He let these horrible things happen with Theodora's curse and that is something he needs to take responsibility for."

Neither of them said anything after that.

* * *

"Please tell me I didn't do something I am going to regret now," Graham said as he pushed himself up from the ground.

Emma rushed over to his side, the heart in her hands. "You didn't do anything. We have your heart now. The Witch won't be a problem for you anymore."

"How are you going to put the heart back?"

"I am going to push it in. Are you ready for this?"

"Yes."

For the second time that day, Emma clutched someone's life in her hands and chose to give it back.

"How do you feel?"

"Better than I have in a long time," he said, giving her a smile. He then proceeded to ask, "How do you know the Witch will not be a problem for me anymore?"

"She is a completely different person. I gave her back her heart, and she turned into the person you she used to be. Her name is Theodora. If you need a place to go, I am sure she will help you. She genuinely feels guilty for every life she has ruined when she was under her curse." Emma truly believed every word she spoke. She added, "Killian and I can't take you back to the Enchanted Forest with us, but one day we will come back to visit, or send someone to get you."

Killian said, "We still have to see the Wizard. Can you show us how to reach Emerald City?"

"You can come with us if you'd like," Emma added.

"I can walk you to the yellow brick road and show you the direction, but now that I have my heart back there is other business I need to take care of."

The walk to the correct road did not take very long. As they reached the point where the two roads converged, Graham turned around and said his last words to them.

"Thank you for everything you did for me. I will be close to Munchkin land if you ever come back to find me."

"We will come back to find you," Emma responded.

Graham nodded. "Okay. I will be looking forward to it."

After that, the two parties walked off to continue on their respective journeys, unsure of when exactly they would see each other next.

* * *

**A/N: Fun fact time. Until I began writing this chapter, I fully intended for Emma to kill the WW. I began writing Emma's back story and I started to feel like killing the Witch would not be in character for her. It also fit will with the overall theme/title of this fic to have Emma save Theodora from a curse instead of the alternate. I hope you enjoyed the twist. (I certainly enjoyed writing it!)**

**Next Chapter: We're off to see the wizard! The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!**

**Review?**


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